CIMA E3 Strategic Management - E3 Exam Practice Test

Porter suggests that competitive advantage can be attained by organising value-adding activities in support of the generic strategies which he identified.
Place the appropriate generic strategy against each of the value-adding activities.

Strategy is usually described as having three different levels: namely corporate strategy, business strategy and functional strategy. Which of the following are corporate strategies? Select ALL that apply.

Porter suggests that competitive advantage arises from the implementation of a 'generic strategy'. Which THREE of the following are NOT generic strategies?

Which THREE of the following statements apply to Lynch's performance pyramid? (Choose three.)

TTT is a conglomerate with two divisions, AAA and BBB. Advise TTT on the most appropriate strategy to adopt for each division.

Plush is a medium-sized hotel which recently opened on the outskirts of a city which is popular with tourists.
It has a sophisticated website which allows customers to pre-book rooms and additional items, such as meals in its restaurant and tickets for popular tourist attractions in the city.
Plush has listed its website on a popular hotel price comparison website, which allows customers to compare prices and facilities of hotels in the same area and this has resulted in over 60% of Plush's customer bookings so far.
Since listing on the price comparison website, the Sales Manager of Plush has noticed that the prices offered by its nearest competitors have reduced dramatically and their range of special offers have also increased.
Which TWO of Porter's Five Forces have been most affected by the use of the price comparison website by the hotels in the same area as Plush? (Choose two.)

LLL is considering entering Country B to sell its zero emissions car.
LLL has invested heavily in fuel cell technology for its car. It does not rely on any polluting fuels for its energy. This means that LLL's car is the only true zero emissions car.
Research conducted in Country B for LLL has revealed the following:
* Country B's Government is concerned that all forms of pollution have risen to dangerous levels.
* Despite being worried about pollution the Government of Country B has not yet adopted taxation policies to encourage the use of low pollution cars.
* Drivers choosing a car continue to rank the speed and appearance of a car very much higher than its impact on environmental pollution.
* About 2% of motorists own an electric or hybrid powered car.
* A high rate of sales tax levied on the price of new cars in Country B encourages motorists to continue to drive older, more polluting, cars.
LLL recognises that it needs to plan its strategy for Country B over the long-term.
Which THREE of the following strategies would you advise LLL to use to build its long-term sales in Country B?

A is a private healthcare organization aiming to provide affordable and accessible high quality patient services.
A is introducing Big Data, which has not yet been adopted by the competition. A's database will store a huge amount of information about its patients. Clear access to wide sources of accurate information will enable patients to make more informed choices. Patients will be able to compare not only the prices of drugs, treatments and physicians but also their relative effectiveness.
Which of the following concerns should A have about its use of Big Data?

JJJ is a private company belonging to a famous former athlete. It operates gyms and fitness clubs across its home country. Each gym or fitness club is treated as a profit centre and the manager of each centre is paid bonuses based on its financial performance.
Three years ago it introduced multidimensional performance measures into its management control systems.
These measure capacity utilisation, financial performance, competitiveness, innovation, and the flexibility of its centres to cope with changing demands.
The managers of its centres have been leaving at a very high rate over the last two years. They have claimed that the measures are too open to interpretation and when they think they are improving the centre's performance they are told they are doing the wrong thing. They also complain that the managers in the centres near big cities find it much easier to reach their targets than the managers of other centres.
Using Fitzgerald and Moon's Building Block model, where does the problem lie?

Your management team is considering using Porter's Value Chain to assist it in developing a new competitive strategy for the business.
Which THREE of the following statements would inform your management team about Porter's Value Chain?

ZZZ is a retailing Organization that is suffering falling market share and falling profits.
ZZZ has a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who is urgently setting up a strategic performance evaluation system. This will involve identifying Critical Success Factors (CSFs) and then monitoring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
Advise the CEO which of the following statements is suitable for the role that a Chartered Global Management Accountant should undertake.

QQQ is a family run business which manufactures and sells chocolate. QQQ employs 80 staff in its factory and shops. It operates 10 shops within a number of small towns in the northern region of Country P. In the last four years, demand for QQQ's products has decreased, as customers in its local region are increasingly shopping in large supermarkets and out of town facilities, which are more convenient and tend to offer cheaper priced goods. The recent economic recession has hit the region hard and many local people have moved away to find work in other regions of the country. The internet has also impacted upon its business, as many customers are now making purchases of chocolate via the internet.
The Managing Director (MD) of QQQ has recently retired and the Board took the decision to make an external appointment to replace him. The new MD believes that QQQ needs to invest in new technology within its factory. This would reduce staffing levels by 15% and would reduce wastage and costs, allowing QQQ to offer more competitively priced products. He also believes that QQQ must invest in its own website. However QQQ's staff are very unhappy with these proposals. Some of the family members of the Board are concerned that this change will destroy the family tradition and reputation of QQQ that has been built up over many years.
Select the correct descriptor for each of the forces for change below.

'Change-adept' Organizations are those that manage change successfully. Moss-Kanter identified skills required by Organizational leaders which are necessary to lead 'change-adept' Organizations.
Your Organization is undergoing significant change and the appointment of a new CEO is imminent. You have been asked to recommend the key skills for assessing the shortlist of CEO candidates against.
Which of the following statements are suitable for use as the selection criteria for the new CEO, consistent with the ideas expressed by Moss-Kanter?
Select ALL that apply.

A large sporting event is due to take place in Country P next year and a project team has been set up to market the event. The project team recognises that a focus upon effective relationships with a range of key customer markets is critical to the success of the event. These key relationships need to be developed with the spectators, the broadcasting companies televising the event, the agents who are selling the tickets for the event and the key human resource providers such as the security companies involved in ensuring the overall security of the event.
Which of the following would be the correct classification of the broadcasting companies televising the sporting event, using Payne's 'six markets model' classifications?

Information regarding two potential investments, that do not provide initial, valuable positive NPV opportunities, is outlined below:
* Y is a telecoms company, considering paying a premium for a Chinese telecoms company which has exclusive rights to service a large segment of the Chinese market, currently worth $123 billion in total The exclusive rights cover 25% of the market
* Z is a developed market retailer, considering paying a premium for an Indian retail company in the belief that the market is going to continue to be lucrative and grow by 8% per annum for the foreseeable future The current market is worth $600 billion and the company currently has 12% of the total market.
Which of the following statements regarding sustainable excess returns for the above real options is true1?